WHERE THE HEART IS
Sony goes big on smaller projects with its indie roster…
07 Former Sony top brass Shuhei Yoshida recently announced PlayStation’s new indie initiative. A self-described long-time fan of the indie scene, Yoshida stated, “Our goal is to make PlayStation the best place to develop, find, and play great indie games.” Along with the initiative, nine new titles were also announced. Check out everything new on PS5 in our rundown starting on p26, and read on for the titles coming to PS4, which prove there’s still plenty of life in the system yet.
Where the Heart Is
We’ve all got an inner world, but this adventure makes it literal. For example, when protagonist Whit realises he’s lost, memories of his father influence the scene and create a new area to explore. Game director Todd Keller explained, “This reflects how we live through our experiences — in the real world and in our minds, simultaneously.”
FIST: Forged In Shadow Torch
An action adventure with plenty of fisticuffs and a beautiful Asiandieselpunk aesthetic. As strong, silent rabbit Rayton, you must let your mechanised glove, drill, and whip do the talking as you rescue a friend from the invading Machine Legion. We can’t wait for more of this hare-raising platformer.
Carto
We can’t get enough of crafty world-shifting puzzles. Taking cues from cartography, here you rearrange parts of the map to create new areas, reveal secrets, and meet a cast full of wanderlust.
Creaks
Creaks encourages you to creep through a hand-sketched mansion full of strange creatures rendered harmless by light. Painstakingly crafted over the last eight years, lead designer and artist Radim Jurda explained that modern scanners don’t pick up the texture and imperfections that are so important to his art style, so instead he uses an old A4 scanner and digitally patches all of the art together. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Which indie title has grabbed your attention? Tweet us @OPM_UK.